Seravalli Trade Targets: 20 names in play in the Summer of Jack
The Summer of Jack Eichel is upon us. And the Eichel sweepstakes may just be the appetizer in one of the juiciest offseasons in recent memory. Between the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, a slate of unhappy superstars seeking new area codes and player movement prompted by the flat salary cap, this summer’s trade market is as deep as it’s ever been in terms of quality matching quantity.
Introducing: Trade Targets, one of our first initiatives at Daily Faceoff, where we’ll dive in and dish on the players most likely to be moved and why.
Trade Targets is a living and breathing list which will organically change over time based on reporting on market conditions and value.
Let’s go. Here are 20 names in play as the NHL prepares for a wild summer:
1. @Jack Eichel
Center, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 24
Contract: 5 years at $10 million AAV remaining
Scoop: The marriage between the Sabres and their captain appears to be irretrievably broken. The two sides have kept quiet of late, but a medical treatment disagreement boiling over publically is typically the tip of the iceberg. Six weeks after their season has ended, the Sabres have still not named a head coach – who could become Eichel’s fifth ahead of his seventh season. Teams will need reassurance on his neck injury, but there is no trepidation about this elite threat’s contract.
2. @Seth Jones
Right Defense, Columbus Blue Jackets
Age: 26
Contract: 1 year at $5.4 million AAV remaining
Scoop: It’s not often that a Norris Trophy-vote-earning defenseman makes it to market at age 26, but the Blue Jackets haven’t run from the fact that Jones has informed the team he won’t be re-signing long-term there. He won’t be playing out his contract in Columbus, unlike Artemi Panarin or Sergei Bobrovsky. Jones holds the cards, with both his 10-team no-trade clause and his ability to signal his (dis)interest in an extension, but there have quietly been legitimate concerns voiced from multiple teams behind the scenes about his two consecutive seasons of declining production. That, plus the need to pay Jones, makes Eichel the clear No. 1 trade target.
3. @Evgeny Kuznetsov
Center, Washington Capitals
Age: 29
Contract: 4 years at $7.8 million AAV remaining
Scoop: Simply put, the Caps are tired of Kuznetsov’s antics. From being one of the only NHL players to test positive for Covid-19 twice this season, to his four-year suspension from international hockey after testing positive for cocaine, the time is right for change. Kuznetsov is unquestionably a talented player – see his Conn Smythe-worthy playoff run in 2018 – but an inconsistent one. His contract will be difficult to move, but perhaps less so after the Caps pay his $5 million signing bonus due in July.
4. @Conor Garland
Right Wing, Arizona Coyotes
Age: 25
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: The Coyotes have not treated Garland like the player who was the heartbeat of their team. Garland’s camp, led by agent Peter Cooney, submitted two contract proposals (as requested by the club) on May 20 and there has been zero communication or dialogue since. “We’re just looking for Conor to be paid respectfully like the core player he was for the Coyotes,” Cooney told Daily Faceoff on Tuesday. It appears that will be elsewhere, which is no real shock given that Arizona nearly moved Garland in the days prior to April’s trade deadline.
5. @Evander Kane
Right Wing, San Jose Sharks
Age: 29
Contract: 4 years at $7 million AAV remaining
Scoop: Doug Wilson is navigating choppy waters in the Bay Area. Sources indicate significant friction built up between Kane and a number of his teammates last season, frustration that was expressed clearly to management in exit interviews. The trouble is Kane is also coming off the best season of his career: 32 goal and 40 assist pace over an 82-game season. He is one of the best at his position with a relentless forechecking style – and he’s signed to a contract that is commensurate with that production. We’ll see where this goes.
6. Rights to @Dougie Hamilton
Right Defense, Carolina Hurricanes
Age: 28
Contract: Pending UFA
Scoop: The Hurricanes recently allowed Hamilton’s camp to explore the trade market. The hope is two-fold, either that as they peruse a trade and sign, that the market will show Carolina’s offers are in the ballpark – or that they’ll recoup an asset as Hamilton moves on. Hamilton is only defenseman to hit double-digit goals in each of the last seven seasons, also the only blue liner to hit at least 39 points in that span. Break out the checkbook. Hamilton is the premier free agent available this summer.
7. @Sam Reinhart
Center, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 25
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: Shoot some truth serum into Sabres GM Kevyn Adams and he’ll likely tell you that he has no real interest in moving Reinhart. He finished tied for 11th in the league in goals (25), which is a 37-goal pace over 82 games. By all accounts, Reinhart also emerged as one of Buffalo’s leaders. It’s just that Reinhart is one year away from free agency and his negative comments indicate there is little chance he’ll be signing long-term, so this summer might make sense to rip the band-aid off.
8. @Johnny Gaudreau
Left Wing, Calgary Flames
Age: 27
Contract: 1 year at $6.75 million AAV remaining
Scoop: Many wondered last October whether Gaudreau had played his final game as a Flame. That question looms larger this summer after a disastrous season for Calgary’s core. Extrapolated over 82 games, Gaudreau actually had an average production season, with a 28-goal and 71-point pace. But some change would seem to be on the horizon in Calgary and an extension would be required as some point as well, making him a logical candidate to move.
9. @Jake DeBrusk
Left Wing, Boston Bruins
Age: 24
Contract: 1 year at $3.675 million AAV remaining
Scoop: One of the NHL’s more consistent, young goal-scoring wingers found himself on the outside of the Bruins’ lineup in Game 5 of the second round. It was the fourth time DeBrusk was healthy scratched by Bruce Cassidy last season, leaving Cassidy to say after the season that the two needed to sit down and find ‘common ground.’ If Taylor Hall re-signs, that gives Boston more flexibility to explore a fresh start for DeBrusk.
10. @Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Left Defense, Arizona Coyotes
Age: 29
Contract: 6 years at $8.25 million AAV remaining
Scoop: The word around Arizona is everyone is available aside from Jakob Chychrun. That includes the captain. Last offseason, Ekman-Larsson only gave Arizona two options: Boston and Vancouver. There is more flexibility there this time around. But that is a very difficult contract to move in a flat cap world and there are plenty of questions about Ekman-Larsson’s recent and noticeable drop-off in play. The Coyotes are believed to be looking for a Ryan O’Reilly (to St. Louis)-type deal: pick, prospect, roster player and are willing to maybe take a smaller, less desirable contract in return.
11. @Rickard Rakell
Right Wing, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 28
Contract: 1 year at $3.789 million AAV remaining
Scoop: Keep an eye on the Ducks to reshuffle the deck this summer. GM Bob Murray wants to speed up the rebuild after three straight seasons picking in the Top 10. Rakell is a talented player who was one of the hottest players in the league for a stretch this season until an untimely injury derailed a possible deadline deal.
12. @Rasmus Ristolainen
Right Defense, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 26
Contract: 1 year at $5.4 million AAV remaining
Scoop: Feels like years now that ‘Risto’ has been part of the rumor mill, but after a Covid-19 ravaged season, this offseason probably brings the best probability that he’s finally on the move. To think, at one point, Ristolainen put together four straight seasons of 40-plus points. Can that ability be unlocked again?
13. @Dante Fabbro
Right Defense, Nashville Predators
Age: 23
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: What an odd season in Nashville. The Preds went from having nearly their entire roster on the block to making the playoffs. Similarly, Fabbro went from playing Top 4 minutes for John Hynes, to sitting as a healthy scratch for all five playoff games after being jumped over by Alexandre Carrier in the lineup.
14. @Vince Dunn
Left Defense, St. Louis Blues
Age: 24
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: Dunn is also no stranger to the trade talk. For the second straight offseason, he needs a new contract. He was healthy scratched at times by Craig Berube last season. But the question is what are the Blues looking for in return? He’s played like a third pair defenseman with flashes of potential, but teams say the Blues value him more like a second-pair guy.
15. Rights to @Chris Driedger
Goalie, Florida Panthers
Age: 27
Contract: Pending UFA
Scoop: The Panthers are willing to move Driedger’s rights to a suitor. Driedger is coming off two solid seasons in which he proved to be a capable NHL netminder. With the Expansion Draft, this is not an easy time to trade goalies (and the Blue Jackets might be moving one of theirs, including an expansion-exempt Elvis Merzlikins). But there are a few teams who do not have expansion concerns at that position and might be in the market to lock up a reasonably priced ($3 million?) option in Driedger.
16. @Travis Dermott
Left Defense, Toronto Maple Leafs
Age: 24
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: The Leafs are prepared for the possibility to lose a player like Dermott in the Expansion Draft. But they may also explore the trade market for him in the meantime. The question Toronto and so many other teams will be asking between now and July 21: Does it just make sense to cut our losses clean at one player? Or does making a side transaction compound the problem and make it two?
17. @Warren Foegele
Left Wing, Carolina Hurricanes
Age: 25
Contract: RFA (Arbitration Eligible)
Scoop: It’s probably no great shock that Foegele is hungry for more opportunity and ice time. It’s also probably no great shock that Carolina may not be in the position to give him more. Foegele is a capable player who competes, brings a shovel and is ready to dig in.
18. @Jakub Voracek
Right Wing, Philadelphia Flyers
Age: 31
Contract: 3 years at $8.25 million AAV remaining
Scoop: This is going to be an enormous offseason for GM Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers, who are eager to improve. Voracek has been a big part of Philly’s core for a decade, but clearing out his contract also represents the cleanest path to cap flexibility. Could Seattle be enticed with a pick to take him? It wouldn’t shock anyone to see Voracek, who is owed a few million fewer in real dollars on the backend of his deal, be back in the 60-point range again next season.
19. @Anton Stralman
Right Defense, Florida Panthers
Age: 34
Contract: 1 year at $5.5 million AAV remaining
Scoop: One of GM Bill Zito’s more under-the-radar maneuvers on his way to becoming a finalist for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award in his first season in Florida was getting out of the final two seasons of Brett Connolly’s contract. In an ideal world, the Panthers would also find a landing spot for Stralman’s final year, as Zito continues to remake the Cats’ blue line.
20. @Sami Niku
Left Defense, Winnipeg Jets
Age: 24
Contract: 1 year at $725,000 AAV remaining
Scoop: The Jets are resigned to the fact that a change of scenery is on the horizon for their former AHL Defenseman of the Year, who could not crack the team’s lineup last season. His one-year deal at league minimum makes Niku a no-risk proposition.